And Isaac entreated the LORD for his
wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife
conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why
am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations
are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one
people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. And
when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And
the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And
after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was
called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
- Genesis 25:21-26

It is a well-known halachah [law] that Esau
hates Jacob. (Midrash HaGadol 28:1).

"In the year 565 Justinian died, master of a great
empire. Five years later Mohammed was born into a poor family in a country three quarters
desert, sparsely people by nomad tribes whose total wealth could hardly have furnished the
sanctuary of St. Sophia. No one in those years would have dreamed that within a century
these nomads would conquer half of Byzantine Asia, all Persia and Egypt, most of North
Africa, and be on their way to Spain. The explosion of the Arabian peninsula into the
conquest and conversion of half the Mediterranean world is the most extraordinary
phenomenon in medieval history."

...Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee,
O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:...Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with
them;...Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his
bands: and many people with thee... Ezekiel 38:3,5,6

Meshech, Tubal - Turkey (northern Asia Minor)

Gomer - southern Russia/Crimea

Togarmah - Armenia/Turkey

____________________

Byzantium--see Istanbul

Istanbul--city NW Turkey on the Bosporus & Sea of
Marmara; former capital of Turkey & of Ottoman Empire.

Mohammed started it all. Before him there were some minor
Arab kingdoms made up of families gathered in clans and tribes, but no overall
consolidation. The Greeks grouped these clans under the name of "Sarakenoi,
Saracens, apparently from the Arabic sharqiyun, 'Easterners.'" These tribes
felt no duty or loyalty to anyone but members of their own family with each group being
ruled by the sheik. They pretty much wandered the desert with their flocks and a good part
of their lives was spent in tribal warfare. Their religion consisted mainly in worshipping
deities in the moon, stars, earth, sacred stones, etc.

The center of stone worship was Mecca. The city was
situated in a convenient place along the trade routes and merchants would stop to perform
the rituals associated with the Kaaba and its sacred Black Stone.

"Kaaba means a square structure, and is one
with our word cube. In the belief of orthodox Moslems, the Kaaba was built or
rebuilt ten times. The first was erected at the dawn of history by angels from heaven; the
second by Adam; the third by his son Seth; the fourth by Abraham and his son Ishmael by
Hagar...the seventh by Qusay, chief of the Quraish tribe; the eighth by the Quraish
leaders in Mohammed's lifetime (605); the ninth and tenth by Moslem leaders in 681 and
696; the tenth is substantially the Kaaba of today. It stands near the center of a large
porticoed enclosure, the Masjid al-Haram, or Sacred Mosque. It is a rectangular stone
edifice forty feet long, thirty-five wide, fifty high. In its southeast corner, five feet
from the ground, just right for kissing, is embedded the Black Stone, of dark red
material, oval in shape, some seven inches in diameter. Many of its worshipers believe
that this stone was sent down from heaven--and perhaps it was a meteorite; most of them
believe that it has been a part of the Kaaba since Abraham. Moslem scholars interpret it
as symbolizing that part of Abraham's progeny (Ishmael and his offspring) which, rejected
by Israel, became, they think, the founders of the Quraish tribe; they apply to it a
passage from Psalm 118:22-3: 'The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of
the corner; this is Yahveh's doing'; and another from Matthew 21:42-3, in which Jesus,
having quoted these strange words, adds: 'Therefore the Kingdom of God shall be taken away
from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof'--though the
virile Moslems would hardly claim to have fulfilled the ethics of Christ."

The stone which the builders refused is become the
head stone of the corner. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our
eyes.--Psalm 118:22,23

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.--Isaiah 28:16

Please see Antichrist for
references to Antichrist being called the "son of stone." Also see Wormwood for info on stoning.

The Kaaba in pre-Moslem days held several idols
representing different gods. One of these gods was called Allah who was probably the
tribal god of the Quraish. It was the duty of this tribe (because they were allegedly
descended from Abraham and Ishmael) to appoint the priests and guardians of the shrine and
manage the revenues. The civil government of the city was controlled by "an
aristocratic minority of the tribe" (descendants of Qusay). Allah was considered the
chief god and was considered the Lord of the soil to whom they paid tithes of their crops
and the firstborn of their herds. This is one of many, many similarities with the
Judeo-Christian ethic which causes Islam to be considered antichrist--a substitute in
place of the genuine.

Like in most ruling families, the Quraish fought and
divided into 2 factions around the beginning of the 6th century: one led by a rich
merchant and philanthropist Hashim; the other by Hashim's jealous nephew Umayya. There
would be constant battle between the two and their descendants. After Hashim died, Abd
al-Muttalib took over. Abd's son Abdalluh married Amina (both descendants of Qusay) and
had Mohammed. Abdallah died two months before the birth leaving Mohammed ("highly
praised") some camels, goats, a house and a slave. His mother died when he was six
and his grandfather took him in. After his grandfather, Mohammed's uncle Abu Talib raised
him.

There is nothing remarkable about his childhood. The next
thing of importance is his marriage to Khadija at 25. Mohammed is now introduced to the
scriptures of the Jews and Christians (which is evident in the Koran, although
adulterated) by way of Khadijah's relatives. He feels "the need of a new
religion--perhaps of one that would unify all these factious groups into a virile and
healthy nation; a religion that would give them a morality not earth-bound to the Bedouin
law of violence and revenge, but based upon commandments of divine origin and therefore of
indisputable force." Thus the birth of Islam.

It all started as recorded by Muhammad ibn Ishaq,
Mohammed's chief biographer: "Whilst I was asleep, with a coverlet of silk brocade
whereon was some writing, the angel Gabriel appeared to me and said, 'Read!' I said, 'I do
not read.' He pressed me with the coverlets so tightly that methought 'twas death. Then he
let me go, and said, 'Read!'...So I read aloud, and he departed from me at last. And I
awoke from my sleep, and it was as though these words were written on my heart. I went
forth until, when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'O
Mohammed! thou art the messenger of Allah, and I am Gabriel.' I raised my head toward
heaven to see, and lo, Gabriel in the form of a man, with feet set evenly on the rim of
the sky, saying, 'O Mohammed! thou art the messenger of Allah, and I am Gabriel.'"

Mohammed had many visions (usually coinciding very
conveniently with something for his personal gain) which were not written down until much
later. Not everyone in his tribe of the Quraish thought Mohammed was a prophet--they
thought him a half-wit and laughed behind his back. He did, however, manage to convert
some of the men of high-standing in his clan. He tried unsuccessfully for a time before
his preaching of the one god, Allah, was accepted.

Jerusalem became the third holiest site in Islam because
of Mohammed's vision that "he was miraculously transported in his sleep to Jerusalem;
there a winged horse, Buraq, awaited him at the Wiling Wall of the Jewish Temple ruins,
flew him to heaven, and back again; and by another miracle the Prophet found himself, the
next morning, safe in his Mecca bed."

Because of the infighting between the Hashimites and the
Umayyas of the Quraish, Mohammed was forced to flee Mecca to Yathrib (renamed Medina
"City of the Prophet"). To commemorate this flight, July 16, 622 was designated
the official beginning of the Mohammedan era.

Relations between the Jews, Christians and Moslems was
cordial at first with many Jews joining in the new religion, but with the renewal of
raiding parties and stress of war, the Jews were disenchanted and started laughing at
Mohammed and his interpretations of the Scriptures and his claim to be the Messiah--for he
claimed to be the Paraclete (Holy Spirit) promised in the Bible.

After many years in Medina, Mohammed made a ten year truce
with those in Mecca, but the fighting started up again after only two years. He entered
Mecca unopposed (because of the number of his army), declared a general amnesty, destroyed
the idols in and around the Kaaba, but spared the Black stone and sanctioned the kissing
of it. He proclaimed Mecca the Holy City of Islam and stated that no unbeliever should
ever be allowed to set foot on its sacred ground. After this conquest, all of Arabia
submitted to his authority.

During peaceful times, he turned to the governing aspect
of the nation. He decided to regulate the calendar which "had consisted among the
Arabs, as among the Jews, of twelve lunar months, with an intercalary month every three
years to renew concord with the sun. Mohammed ruled that the Moslem year should always
consist of twelve lunar months, of alternately thirty and twenty-nine days; as a result
the Moslem calendar lost all harmony with the seasons, and gained a year upon the
Gregorian calendar every thirty-two and a half years." He also admired the Jews'
Sabbath, but changed it to Friday.

And he shall speak great words against the most High,
and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and
they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.--Daniel
7:25

While Mohammed was alive there was no official written
qur'an ("reading" or "discourse"), but after his death one was
formulated. It's a confusing melange of doctrines, prayers, announcements of laws,
denouncements of enemies, directions, stories, rituals, financial info, etc. Apparently
some of the things included in it were just a one-time thing, a local occurrence, and was
probably not meant to be added to his writings. All chapters ("suras") except
the first are written as if Gabriel or Allah is speaking because Mohammed believed that
the only way to get everyone to obey his teachings was to make people believe they were
utterings directly from God. The Koran is the perfect antibible for antichrist.

Some teachings contained therein:

angels serve as Allah's messengers and record the good and
bad deeds of men

the dead sleep till Judgment Day

only Allah knows when this resurrection will occur

the signs to herald its coming include: faith in religion
almost gone, loose morals, great wars, wise men will wish they were dead

final signal consists of 3 trumpet blasts

first trumpet: sun will go out, stars fall, heavens melt,
all buildings and mountains leveled, seas dry up or burst into flame.

second trumpet: all living creatures including angels and
jinn (genies) killed except for a few favorites. Forty years later

third trumpet: dead bodies rise and join their soul, God
comes in the clouds with angels with books of men's deeds, good works weighed in a scale
and each man judged

seven levels of hell with burning heat and biting cold

those who die during jihad and the poor will enter heaven
500 years before the rich.

Paradise is around the 7th heaven; it's a garden watered
with rivers and shaded with trees; the blessed dressed in silk brocades and adorned with
gems; they recline on couches served by handsome youths and eat fruit from the trees;
rivers of milk, honey, wine; each male gets 72 virgins

everyone beholds Allah's face in heaven

children never grow old

The first article of Moslem belief is "there is no
god but Allah" which is the counterpart to the beginning of Judaism's Shema (Deut
6:4-9, 11:13-21; Num 15:37-41): "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one
LORD."

For more info on the significance of the Shema to the
Jews, please see The Worship of the
Synagogue in "Sketches of Jewish Social Life" by Alfred Edersheim.

Throughout the Talmud are many, many instances of the
refrain "The Holy One, Blessed be He" with the counterpart in Islam being
"Allah" (or "Mohammed"), "Blessed be He." There are just too
many parallels to mention them all but suffice it to say that Mohammed took Jewish
theology, ethics and rituals and added Arab demonology, pilgrimage and the Kaaba ceremony
to create Islam. He taught that all other books had become corrupted and that what he was
teaching was the final word from God.

After Mohammed's death Islam was ruled by Caliphs
("representatives") and there were a succession of those who went out and either
converted the vanquished, made them pay tribute or slaughtered them--those were the 3
choices. At the beginning (630s), Syria was the base of the spreading Moslem empire. A few
of these caliphs seem to have favored dying their white beards red (with no explanation
why). The Hashimite and Umayyad clans were still feuding and around 661 the Umayyad were
victorious and took over the caliphate until 750.

The Abbasid caliphate ran from 750-1058 with the founder,
Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah (the Bloodthirsty), ruling an empire "extending from the Indus
to the Atlantic: Sind (northwest India), Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Turkestan, Persia,
Mesopotamia, Armenia, Syria, Palestine, Cyprus, Crete, Egypt, and North Africa. Moslem
Spain, however, rejected his authority..." This caliphate built a new capital at
Baghdad. Thirty-four of the 37 Abbasid caliphs had slave mothers.

An interesting caliph during this period was called Harun
(supposedly the inspiration for the Thousand and One Nights). He had a vizier named
Jafar and "loved [him] so well...had a cloak made with two collars, so that he and
Jafar might wear it at the same time, and be two heads with but a single breast..."

As the Abbasid caliphate ran down, many "Turks were
employed in the armed forces of the state, as Germans had replaced Romans in the armies of
Rome; and from al-Muntasir [a caliph] onward it was Turkish captains that made and unmade,
commanded and murdered, the caliphs." The caliphs were forced to do the bidding of
others and the "Commander of the Faithful became little more than the head of
orthodox Islam."

The Turks, in turn, overran Islam: "Moving westward
from Lake Baikal, the Turks of north central Asia organized themselves in the sixth
century under a khan or chagan. Forging iron found in their mountains, they
made weapons as hard as their code, which punished not only treason and murder, but
adultery and cowardice, with death. The fertility of their women outran the mortality of
their wars. By AD 1000 a branch of Turks known by the name of their beg or leader
Seljuq dominated Transoxiana as well as Turkestan. Mahmud of Ghazni, thinking to halt this
rival Turkish power, seized a son of Seljuq, and imprisoned him in India. Undaunted and
enraged, the Seljuq Turks under the stern but masterful Tughril Beg took most of Persia,
and paved their further advance by sending to the Caliph al-Qaim at Baghdad a deputation
announcing their submission to him and Islam. The Caliph hoped that these fearless
warriors might free him from his Buwayhid overlords; he invited Tughril Beg to come to his
aid. Tughril came and the Buwayhids fled; al-Qaim married Tughril's niece, and made him
'King of the East and the West.' One by one the petty dynasties of Asiatic Islam crumbled
before the Seljuqs, and acknowledge again the supremacy of Baghdad. The Seljuq rulers took
the title of sultan--master--and reduce the caliphs to a merely religious role; but
they brought to the government a new vigor and competence, and to Mohammedanism a new
fervor of orthodox faith. They did not, like the Mongols two centuries later, destroy what
they conquered; they rapidly absorbed the higher civilization, unified into a new empire
what had been the scattered members of a dying state, and gave it the strength to endure
and survive that long duel, between Christianity and Islam, which we know as the
Crusades."

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a
fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth:
it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was
diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.--Daniel 7:7

____________________

The Arabs did not disdain the office of merchant; they
were adept at getting goods from producers to consumers: "...caravans bound China and
India to Persia, Syria, and Egypt; and ports like Baghdad, Basra, Aden, Cairo, and
Alexandria sent Arab merchantmen out to sea. Moslem commerce dominated the Mediterranean
till the Crusades, plying between Syria and Egypt at one end, Tunis, Sicily, Morocco, and
Spain at the other, and touching Greece, Italy, and Gaul; it captured control of the Red
Sea from Ethiopia; it reached over the Caspian into Mongolia, and up the Volga from
Astrakhan to Novgorod, Finland, Scandinavia, and Germany, where it left thousands of
Moslem coins; it answered the Chinese junks that visited Basra by sending Arab dhows out
from the Persian Gulf to India and Ceylon, through the Straits and up the Chinese coast to
Khanfu (Canton); a colony of Moslem and Jewish merchants was well established there in the
eighth century. This vitalizing commercial activity reached its peak in the tenth century,
when western Europe was at nadir; and when it subsided it left its mark upon many European
languages in such words as tariff, traffic, magazine, caravan, and bazaar...[one
of the Caliphs] describes a kind of promissory note for 42,000 dinars addressed to a
merchant in Morocco; from the Arabic word sakk for this form of credit is derived
our word check."

One of the underpinnings of their economic structure were
slaves. "They were probably more numerous in Islam in proportion to population than
in Christendom..." A "brisk trade developed in slaves captured in raids--Negroes
from East and Central Africa, Turks or Chinese from Turkestan, whites from Russia, Italy,
and Spain. The Moslem had full rights of life and death over his slaves..."

Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants:
they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.--Ezekiel 27:13

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple
of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and
the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven
from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.--Revelation 3:12

At dawn, shortly after midday, in late afternoon, at
sunset, and at bedtime the muezzin (Muslim crier) mounts a minaret (tower attached to a
mosque) to sound the adhan, or call to prayer: "Allahu Akbar (God is most
great)! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! I bear witness that there is no God but
Allah. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah. I bear witness that there is no God
but Allah. I bear witness that Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah. I bear witness that
Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah. I bear witness that Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah.
Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Come to success! Come to success! Come to
success! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! There is no God but Allah!"

And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the
midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth
by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to
sound!--Revelation 8:13

"A few months after settling in Medina he [Mohammed]
saw the Jews keeping their annual fast of Yom Kippur; he adopted it for his followers,
hoping to win the Jews to Islam; when this hope faded he transferred the fast to the month
of Ramadan." Seeing that the calendar is never corrected, Ramadan falls throughout
the year in a 33 year cycle.

Mecca ("seat of the ancient Arab shrine and
birthplace of the Prophet") and Medina (the prophet's "refuge and home")
were both considered holy cities. At one time (680s), the primary focus of worship was to
be redirected to Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock, but this strategy failed and the
Kaaba retained its primary role. Again, Jerusalem became a holy city to Islam because
supposedly "Mohammed had met Abraham, Moses and Jesus and had prayed with them; near
by he had seen the rock (reckoned by Israel to be the center of the world) where Abraham
had thought to sacrifice Isaac, and Moses had received the Ark of the Covenant, and
Solomon and Herod had built their temples; from that rock Mohammed had ascended into
heaven; if one but had faith he could see in the rock the footprints of the Prophet...Over
that historic stone artisans (691) raised in Syrian-Byzantine style the famous 'Dome of
the Rock'...It was not a mosque, but a shrine to house the rock...Upon an octagonal
building of squared stones, 528 feet in circuit, rises a dome, 112 feet high, made of wood
externally covered with gilded brass...Running around the cornice of the outer colonnade,
in yellow letters on blue tiles, is an inscription in Kufic...Saladin had it set up in
1187...Abd-al-Malik's plan to make this monument replace the Kaaba failed; had it
succeeded, Jerusalem would have been the center of all the three faiths that competed for
the soul of medieval man."

Another important city was Damascus. As the Arab empire
swept East this location was deemed more central than Mecca or Jerusalem. At one time
there were 572 mosques in the city including "The Great Mosque" built over where
the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist had stood (built in 379). The ruling caliph at that
time remodeled the Cathedral into a mosque which was considered "the most magnificent
structure in Islam." The mosque has been burnt, rebuilt, burnt again and replastered
and to this day "on one wall of the mosque may still be seen the inscription that had
overhung the lintel of the Christian church, and which the Moslems never erased: 'Thy
kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth forever.'"
This is interesting in light of the fact that the Lord is not through with Damascus--it
has a role to play in the endtimes (that is a whole study in itself).

Moving eastward from Damascus, the next "jewel"
you would find would be Baghdad. Situated close to the old city of Babylon, in 762 the
governmental offices were moved there from Kufa. Baghdad ("Gift of God") was
renamed Medinat-al-Salam ("City of Peace") and the caliph built a palace called
either the "Golden Gate" because of its gilded entrance, or the "Green
Dome" because of its gleaming roof. The caliph also built a summer residence called
the "Palace of Eternity" where "from the windows of these palaces one might
see a hundred vessels unloading on the docks the wares of half the earth." Both sides
of the Tigris were built up and in the 10th century it was the largest city in the world
and housed many different religions within its narrow streets.

The bounty of riches held within the confines of the city
are hard to imagine as the same area which is now shown on TV filled with beggars and the
poor writhing under the sanctions of the Gulf War due to the mismanagement of Saddam
Hussein. Of course, the gulf between the rich and poor is as wide as ever and we are not
usually allowed to see the palaces and grand homes of the dictator, but history provides
us a bit of information on just what the city was and will be again if Saddam has his way.
The rich lived amidst much opulence--"simple without, but 'within, nothing but azure
and gold.'" One man (caliph?) spent 400,000 dinars ($1,900,000 in 1960s) to build a
"Palace of the Pleiades" with a stable that housed 9000 horses, camels, and
mules; another built a "Palace of the Crown" which covered 9 square miles; yet
another built the "Hall of the Tree," "so named because in its garden pond
stood a tree of silver and gold; on the silver leaves and twigs perched silver birds,
whose beaks piped mechanical lays." "When Greek ambassadors were received by
al-Muqtadir in 917, they were impressed by the the palaces of the Caliph and his
government, the porticoes of marble columns, the number, size, and beauty of the rugs and
tapestries that almost covered floors and walls, the thousand grooms in shining uniforms,
the gold and silver saddles and brocaded saddlecloths of the emperor's horses, the variety
of tame or wild animals in the spacious parks, and the royal barges, themselves palaces,
that rode on the tigris, waiting the Caliph's whim."

Saddam to blame for suffering of Iraqis--Britain
London, Feb 14, 1998 (Reuters) - British Defence Secretary George Robertson said on
Saturday President Saddam Hussein was responsible for the suffering of ordinary Iraqis and
not international sanctions...

"The truth is people are dying in Iraq because it
suits Saddam to exploit their suffering. He believes this will weaken the will of the
United Nations to seek out and destroy his most dangerous weapons"...

"Saddam, not sanctions, is responsible for suffering
in Iraq. I invite those who need convincing to remember he has built 45 palaces since the
Gulf War.

"The 625 million pounds ($1 billion) cost of those
could buy many modern hospitals. Saddam provoked the current crisis by making these sites
off-limits to UN weapons inspectors in defiance of Security Council resolutions"...

____________________

Saddam spends oil dollars on cosmetic surgery-UK

LONDON, Nov 17, 1998 (Reuters) - The British government on
Tuesday accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of seeking to spend his country's
oil-for-food dollars on luxury goods including silicone breast implants and a
laser-powered teeth whitening machine.

``Saddam Hussein's perverse priorities are to provide
luxury goods for his cronies rather than food and medicine for suffering children,''
Foreign Office minister Tony Lloyd said in a written answer to a parliamentary question.

Labour MP Tam Dalyell, who supports an end to sanctions
against Iraq, had asked Lloyd what evidence the government had to back up allegations that
the Iraqi president had imported specialist surgical equipment to carry out cosmetic
surgery on his associates.

Lloyd said Iraq's requests to the United Nations for goods
to be imported under the oil-for-food deal included:
-- silicone breast implants
-- a liposuction machine worth more than $16,000
-- a teeth whitening laser worth $126,000

``The U.N. would not of course approve these items at the
expense of more pressing needs,'' Lloyd said.

Since the start of the current crisis with Iraq over
weapons inspections the British government has stepped up efforts to prove that shortages
of food and medicines in Iraq, which Baghdad blames on U.N. sanctions, are caused by
deliberate Iraqi policy.

Baghdad was a place of luxury where the upper classes
engaged in horse racing, polo games, drank precious wine, ate foods brought from all over
the world, wore silk and gold brocade, perfumed their hair, clothing, beards, wore jewelry
on their heads, ears, necks, wrists, ankles. "About 790 we hear of a club of ten
members: an orthodox Sunni, a Shi'ite, A Kharijite, a Manichean, an erotic poet, a
materialist, a Christian, a Jew, a Sabaean, and a Zoroastrian; their meetings, we are
told, were marked by mutual tolerance, good humor, and courteous argument. In general
Moslem society was one of excellent manners; from Cyrus to Li Hung Chang the East has
surpassed the West in courtesy. It was an ennobling aspect of this Baghdad life that all
the permitted arts and sciences found there a discriminating patronage, that schools and
colleges were numerous, and the air resounded with poetry."

(All quotes from The Story of Civilization, Will
Durant)

The Seljuks were a branch of the great Turkic peoples who
dominated the grasslands of Asia from Mongolia to western Russia. During the tenth century
a group of Turks under a chieftain named Seljuk settled in Transoxania, north of what is
today Afghanistan, converted to Islam, and became incorporated into the frontier forces of
the local rulers. The Seljuk servants soon became masters and embarked westward on a
career of conquest.

[The Seljuk divided into Ghazi states.] The modern Turkish
state descends from one of the ghazi principalities. The founder of the state's greatness,
Osman (1259-1326), presumably inherited from his father, Ertogrul, a petty principality on
the southeast border of the Byzantine Empire... Since Osman was the first ghazi of his
line, the state adopted his name and has gone down in Turkish history as the Osmanli
Empire. The name "Osman" is a Turkish version of the Arabic "Othman,"
a name which Italians could not pronounce and corrupted to "Ottoman," so that
Europeans speak and write of the Ottoman Empire.

[Another famous Othman was Caliph Othman who in 651
gathered together the visions and pronouncements of Mohammed into a manuscript which is
known as the Koran.]

Murad I conquered the heart of the Balkans, and in 1389 he
defeated the Serbian king at the Battle of Kossovo...

Technically living as slaves of the sultan, the Janizaries
provided the Ottoman rulers with a highly disciplined standing army of trained and
well-equipped infantrymen, superior to any similar force in Europe until the advent of the
French army under Louis XIV.

[The Janizaries were recruited through the devsirme
system, a form of taxation in which the eldest son of each Christian family in the
sultanate had to be yielded up for the Sultan's service, to be raised as a Muslim and
trained to fight his masters' battles.
( Cannon and the Fall of Constantinople)

All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every
firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass
thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck.
All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me
empty.--Exodus 34:19,20]

Bayazid (Bajazet) I, who succeeded his father Murad I at
the Battle of Kossovo in 1389, immediately gave orders that his brother Yakub should be
strangled...This act became customary among the Ottoman rulers until the seventeenth
century, when imprisonment instead of strangling was the fate of the brothers and nephews
of a successful sultan...Bayazid crossed over to Asia so speedily and won a brilliant
battle near Bursa so decisively that he became known thereafter as "Yilderim" or
"Lightning"...He became addicted to wine and unnatural vices and advocated a
kind of eclectic religion, even naming his sons after Moses (Musa), Solomon (Suleiman),
Jesus (Isa), Muhammad (Mehmed). Most distressing of all were his attacks upon other
Turkish ghazis and Muslims in Asia minor.

A successful naval war from 1499 to 1503 against
Venice...decisively established the naval supremacy of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean.

Perhaps one of Bayazid's [II] most tolerant acts was the
opening of the Ottoman Empire to more than 100,000 Jews who were driven from Spain in
1492. For his piety he was called Veli, "the Saint."

Known as kizilbash, or wearers of the red hat, the
Shiites [a Molsem sect] were inundating eastern and southern Asia Minor with their mystics
and missionaries.

Suleiman [Solomon], tenth sultan of the Ottomans. [His
father Selim I] in a short eight years had almost doubled the size of the empire and had
added to it significant parts of the older Muslim and Arab world. Certainly after 1517
Selim I and his Ottoman successors for several centuries were the most powerful Muslim
rulers, and as such were the ones most likely to be responsible for the enforcement of
Muslim law. Although Selim I and his immediate successors did not adopt the title of
caliph, others did address him as caliph and rendered him the respect usual to that
position. Henceforth until the demise of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the sovereign carried
the titles of sultan, ghazi, shah, padishah, khan, and caliph.

The reign of Suleiman I "the Magnicifent"
(1520-1566) is considered the Golden Age of Ottoman rule...Great wealth poured into
Istanbul, enabling the rulers to build splendid mosques and public institutions, and to
patronize literature, science, and the arts...Suleiman was a cultivated man who enjoyed
music, poetry, the beauties of nature, and philosophic discussions. Yet the military
apparatus of the Empire forced him to pursue a warlike policy...In 1534...captured
Baghdad, incorporating Iraq into the Ottoman Empire...Part of the intrigue which had
devastated Suleiman's family can be attributed to the jealousy of his wife Roxelana, a
former slave girl of either Russian or Polish origin. She interfered in matters of state
so much that no Ottoman sultan thereafter ever took a wife [although they maintained huge
harems].

[Neither shall he regard the god of his fathers, nor
the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.--Daniel
11:37???]

Ziya Gokalp, Turkish nationalist, journalist, and
philosopher, and some of his close friends were the intellectual leaders of the Young
Turkish movement [late 19th, early 20th century]. They were dedicated European modernists
who sought to Westernize Turkey in one generation. Some preached Ottomanism, in which all
peoples of the Empire, whether Turk, Arab, Greek, Armenian, Slav, Jew, or Albanian, would
be melted into one nationality--Ottoman. Another group thought in terms of Pan-Islamism,
uniting all Muslim peoples into one nation; but his had the defect of omitting the many
Christians and Jews in the Empire. Some preached Pan-Turkism, which emphasized the Central
Asian origin of the Turks and argued that all in the Empire should become Turks,
especially since the Turkish language was spoken widely and generally by non-Turks.

On August 2, 1914, Enver [self-proclaimed Turkish minister
of war] and other officials signed a secret agreement with Germany to enter the war on the
German side...An armistice was signed by the Ottoman representatives and a British Admiral
off Mudros in the Aegean Sea on October 30, 1918, giving the Allies the right to
"occupy any strategic points" in the Ottoman Empire and to have free access and
control of the Straits. The Turkish forces were to be demobilized.

____________________

OTTOMAN EMPIRE, the name applied to the Turkish state from
1289 to 1922...The Ottoman Empire reached its zenith in the reign of Suleiman [Solomon]
the Magnificent (1520-1566), extending from Hungary to Mesopotamia and thence soutwestward
to Egypt, Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, which were vassal states. The sultans of the Osman
family held power until the close of the seventeenth century; after them, the
administration of the Empire deteriorated in the hands of the viziers, so that Turkey came
to be described as "the sick man of Europe."

(Collier's Encyclopedia, 1964)

The Treaty of Sevres, negotiated on August 10, 1920,
between the Ottoman government on the one hand and the Allied powers on the other,
deprived Turkey of Thrace, the islands of Imbros (Imroz Adaya) and Tenedos (Bozcaada), the
Dodecanese, Smyrna, the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Egypt, Armenia, Mesopotamia,
Syria, Palestine, and the Hejaz.

This drastic dismemberment of the Turkish Empire served to
rally the people to the Nationalist Party of Mustafa Kemal, better known as Kemal Ataturk,
who repudiated the Treaty of Sevres and took energetic steps to clear Turkey of
foreigners. On November 20, 1922 a fresh treaty was signed at Lausanne, Switzerland,
between the new Turkish government, headed by Kemal Ataturk, and the late Allies, by the
provisions of which eastern Thrace and Anatolia, including Smyrna, were returned to the
Turks. A Turkish republic was proclaimed on October 29, 1923, with its capital at Ankara;
Kemal Ataturk became the first president. Soon thereafter the Turkish caliphate was
abolished and the abandonment of Islam as the state religion was decreed. The program of
revolutionary reforms inaugurated by Ataturk also included the suppression of polygamy,
the abolition of the ancient Mohammedan code of law and the adoption of a Western legal
system, the prohibiton against wearing the fez, and the adoption of the Gregorian calendar
in place of the Mohammedan calendar.

Turkey was invited (September, 1951) to become a signatory
of the North Atlantic Treaty, a mutual-defense pact among the US, Canada, and ten West
European democracies.

(Universal Standard Encyclopedia)

The seven churches in Revelation are in modern Turkey and
were once part of the Ottoman Empire. The churches Paul wrote to in Thessalonica, Colosse,
Philippi, Ephesus, Galatia and Corinth were also all once part of the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Dynasty was the longest lasting dynasty in the
world--641 years.

Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire after World War
I, much of the land that had formerly belonged to the Ottoman empire was divided and given
to the Britain and France in the form of mandates that would prepare these newly created
countries for independence.

The Husayn-McMahon agreement was made during World War I
between the British high commissioner, McMahon, and Sharif Husayn, the governor of the
Ottoman province in Mecca. The Arabs agreed to revolt against the Ottoman Turks in Arabia
and Syria ,and in return Britain would support the creation of an independent Arab state
in former Ottoman lands after the end of the war.

Iraq's Borders and Territory:

Following World War I Britain was given a mandate over the
former Ottoman provinces of Mosul, Baghdad, and part of Basra. This mandate incorporated
the borders of the traditional geographical region of Mesopotamia. This mandate emerged as
the independent kingdom of Iraq in 1932 Iraq bitterly complained about its borders at the
head of the Persian Gulf which had been created by Britain. Its complaint was two-fold:
One; that its access to the Gulf was too narrow, especially in comparison with its width
further north, and two; that the land that had been used to create Kuwait, should have
been given to Iraq since it had been officially included in the former Ottoman province of
Basra, most of which had been included in the Iraqi mandate. Although Iraq accepted the
1932 borders, it was not happy with them, and periodically threatened military action. In
1961 when Kuwait became independent and was no longer a British protectorate, Iraq
announced its plans to annex Kuwait. Threats from the Arab League and Britain prevented
this from taking place, but in the 1970's, Iraq again attempt to take control of two
islands in the Persian Gulf that belonged to Kuwait: Warba and Bubiyan. But as before,
Iraq dropped its claim and withdrew the military threat. Again, in 1990, Iraq moved into
Kuwait. This action led to what became the Gulf War.

Lebanon and Its Territory

Lebanon is a tiny country not much larger than the state
of Connecticut. It is only 135 miles from north to south, and only about 40 miles from the
Mediterranean Sea to Syria. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire after World War I,
France was given a mandate over the area that today is represented by the countries of
Syria and Lebanon. Living in this area were a group of Maronite Christians. These
"Christians of Mount Lebanon" had, under pressure from the European powers, been
granted a privileged status under the Ottoman Empire. Thus, French diplomats separated the
area know as Mt. Lebanon administratively from Syria, and expanded it into a region
considered to be the minimum size necessary for autonomous status (Partner 38). This
expanded region therefore, included more than just the Maronites and eventually led to a
16 year civil war.

Kurdistan:

A map of Asia shows no country called Kurdistan. But many
Kurds are determined that there should be such a country. There are an estimated 22-23
million Kurds; they are the largest ethnic group in the Middle East without their own
government. Most live in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Armenia where these countries
converge.

Following World War I, the Treaty of Se'vres was signed
between Turkey and the Allied Powers on August 10, 1920 (the Treaty of Se'vres). This
treaty arranged for a commission to mark the borders of Kurdistan, and Article 64 called
for the independence of the Kurdish people within the established areas. However, this
treaty was never implemented.

The Kurds: A Nation without a State

The Kurds are people of Indo-European origin who live
mainly in the mountains and upland where Turkey, Iraq, and Iran meet. They have their own
language, and are predominately Sunni Muslim. The Kurds have traditionally resisted
subjugation by other nations. In the 16th century the Ottoman and Persian Empress allowed
the Kurdish tribes almost total autonomy in return for keeping peace on the borders of the
empires. At the end of the First World War, the Kurds living in the former Ottoman Empire
found themselves divided between three different countries: Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. In
each of these countries, the Kurds found themselves to be discriminated against. They were
expected to learn the language of the state in which they found themselves, and to abandon
their Kurdish identity. The Kurds, being traditional in their ways and tribal oriented
began to feel their culture undermined and many Kurdish groups attempted to resist their
new governments.

Since World War I the Kurds have struggled unsuccessfully
in various countries in which they live for self-determination and independence.

(Geopolitical
Issues in the Middle East, Margaret A. Doyle)

The Red Crescent

The Red Crescent is the symbol of the Islamic
organization.

The Crescent with the Star "is the well-known
ideogram found on for instance the flags of Turkey and Pakistan. Positioned in various
ways it appears on several of the Islamic countrie' national flags. This ideogram is a
general symbol for the Islamic faith. It combines the pictorial sign for the waning moon
and the sign for the planet Venus as the Morning star. The five points of the Venus star
are in this context said to represent the five pillars of Islam..."

The Crescent "was the symbol of Constantinople, the
capital city of the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium (now Istanbul). When the Turks, led by
Muhammed II, conquered Constantinople in 1453, they also adopted the city's symbol but
changed its position so that it was clearly a picture of the waning moon (for people
living on the northern hemisphere). According to some sources, however, the Turks already
used the crescent as their symbol at this time. Now it became the symbol for the
Ottoman-Turkish Empire. As such it was used until around the end of the eighteenth
century. At the beginning of the nineteenth century a star was added to it. At first it
was not five- pointed, but soon became so. From the beginning of the twentieth century
this combined crescent and five-pointed star symbol began to appear on other Islamic
countries’ flags."

"The fivepointed star is also a symbol of ideologies
and appears together with other structures to denote different creeds and belief systems:
with the hammer and sickle it represents Communism; with palm leaves, Scientology; with
the crescent moon, Islam..."

(Symbols '98
Encyclopedia)

A Muslim Inconsistency

The importance of Jerusalem popularly accepted by today's
Muslims derives from the belief that within the Dome of the Rock lies the sacred site from
which Mohammed allegedly ascended to heaven. That tradition, however, though now firmly
established in the Muslim mind, is of very recent origin. It is, in fact, a fabrication
invented by Yasser Arafat's uncle, Haj Amin el-Husseini, past Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. He
promoted this myth in the 1920s and 1930s in order to arouse Arab sentiment against the
growing Jewish presence in Jerusalem and to justify the location of the Dome of the Rock
on the Temple site.

That such an idea was not the actual reason for the
construction of this monument to Islam by Abd-al-Malik in 691 is evident from the fact
that the one verse in the Koran (Surah 17:1) which, it is now claimed, alludes to this
alleged event is not to be found among the verses from the Koran which are inscribed
inside the Dome. The absence of that key Koranic passage speaks volumes. Obviously the
interpretation now given to that verse was unknown in earlier times, and with good reason.
The fact is that any normal reading of the verse, assigning normal meaning to the words,
fails to suggest the tradition of Mohammed visiting that site and launching from there
into heaven. The Koran doesn't say that at all, but its meager statement has been
stretched into a now-accepted Islamic tradition. Here is the verse:

"Glorified be He who carried His servant by night
from the Inviolable Place of Worship to the Far Distant Place [al Aqsa] of Worship the
neighborhood whereof We have blessed, that We might show him of Our tokens! Lo! He, and
only He, is the Hearer, the Seer."

The accompanying commentary states that the
"Inviolable Place of Worship" is Mecca and that the "Far Distant Place of
Worship" is Jerusalem. The first is, of course, true because Mecca had held that
position from the beginning. The latter, however, has no substantiation because Jerusalem
had never been the scene of Islamic worship to that time, nor would it be for centuries
thereafter. As we have already noted, Jerusalem is not even mentioned by name in the
Koran, either in this verse or anywhere else. So how could it be a place of worship for
the Muslim who was never directed to it?

Quite obviously, the magnificent Dome of the Rock was
erected on that particular spot not only in an attempt by Abd-al-Malik to gain potentially
vast revenues from pilgrims, but also to prevent the Jews from ever rebuilding the Temple.
No doubt it was thought that without that sacred structure the Jews would have no reason
for regathering in Jerusalem. Thereby the stage was set more than a millennium ago for a
future conflict which today threatens us all with a Third World War--a war over Jerusalem
from which earth might very well never recover. (Jerusalem is mentioned over 800 times in
the Bible.)

____________________

Vatican II makes this surprising statement: "But the
plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place
amongst whom are the Moslems: these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together
with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."

____________________

Islam is fighting a holy war for control of the
world! That war was begun by Mohammed himself in the seventh century and is still carried
on today by his faithful followers through terrorism. The terrorists are not radicals
or extremists, as the media continually labels them. Instead, these are Islamic fundamentalists
who are true to their religion and the teachings of the Koran and who follow faithfully in
the footsteps of their great Prophet, Mohammed. As one former Muslim and Islamic scholar
has said:

"We must never imagine that such Muslims are being
unnecessarily wicked. They are simply being faithful to their religion. The fact is never
hidden as to the attitude a good Muslim should have towards Christians and Jews. In fact,
much of the incitement to violence and war in the whole of the Quran is directed against
the Jews and Christians who rejected what they felt to be the strange god Mohammed was
trying to preach."

____________________

The Islamic world is one of constant unrest, double
crosses, uprisings, and wars. Arab leaders distrust one another and fight among
themselves. Only Islam and the passion to destroy Israel unite them.

____________________

Libya's Moammar Kadafi speaks for millions of Muslims when
he says, "The solution to all human problems is Islam." And when Kadafi urges
Muslims in Zaire to engage in Jihad to overthrow the government and says, "He who
kills this man [Mobutu] will go to paradise," he is not merely expressing one man's
fanaticism but the teaching of Islam itself.

Islam is not merely a religion but a way of life. The idea
of the separation of church and state, taken for granted in the West, is anathema in
Islam. A secular government is a scandal to a Muslim, and Islamic fundamentalists are
actively trying to overthrow such governments in Arab nations and install Shari'a (Islamic
law) in their place. As Islamic scholar Abd-al-Masih explains:

"Islam not only means a religion for man's head, soul
and heart; it is an all-encompassing culture, a theocentric society in which every area of
life, education, economy, family, and politics relate to Allah. There is no question of
separation between throne and pulpit or between politics and religion."

___________________

...Islam claims superiority over Christianity and is as
unalterably opposed to it as it is to Judaism. One Arab writer declares:

"Muslims claim they respect Jesus. Yet many of us
know by experience that Islam is the most anti-Christian religion on earth. It is more
antagonistic to the Christian faith than Communism ever was...With all the persecutions
Christians suffered in the former Soviet Union, the Church of Christ still continued,
though underground. In Communist China today, Christianity still thrives. But confess of
Christ by a national in an Islamic country is regarded as high treason [for which the
penalty is death]. No Church is allowed--not even an official Church that a Communist
government could allow is permitted to operate openly in an Islamic country!"

____________________

It is commonly imagined by non-Muslims that Allah is
simply the Arabic word for God, like Dieu in French or Dios in Spanish. Not
so. Allah is a contraction of al-Ilah, the personal name of the moon god, chief of
the gods in the ancient Kaaba. That fact is still reflected in the crescent moon on the
minarets and shrines and mosques and national flags of Islamic countries. If Allah were
merely the Arabic word for God, then the Muslims would not hesitate to use the word for
God in other languages. But in each language it is insisted that the name Allah be used;
it would be blasphemy to call the Muslims' god anything but Allah.

[Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised
from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone
which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither
is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved.--Acts 4:10-12]

(A Cup of Trembling: Jerusalem and Bible Prophecy,
Dave Hunt)

The word "Islam" means "submission."
The ultimate aim of Islam is to make one umma of the people of the world, an
Islamic people in submission to Allah.

Islam sees the world as being divided into two parts. That
which is "in submission" is called Dar-al-Salaam (House of Peace). That which is
not yet in submission is called Dar-al-Harb (House of War). To put it another way, those
of us in the West who have not yet been brought into "submission" are subject to
Jihad. This term does not simply mean the subjection of unbelievers to some kind of
violent confrontation; Jihad implies everything which furthers the cause of Allah.

____________________

According to Islam there are three "holy books":
the Law (tawrat) and the Psalms (zabur), the New Testament (injil), and the Qur'an. For
Muhammad the Qur'an was the revelation of final and absolute truth. It replaced the Old
and New Testaments and corrected the errors which had supposedly crept into the revelation
that Allah had previously given to the Jews and the Christians.

In asserting that the Jews had twisted the words of God,
Muhammad was specifically referring to the promises given to Abraham and recorded in the
Scriptures. These include the promises which God has fulfilled through the line of Isaac,
Jacob, Judah, and Israel, as well as those which await fulfillment. But, according to
Muhammad, the major promises from Allah were not given to Isaac but to Ishmael.

____________________

It was largely in the twentieth century, with the
discovery of oil under the desert sands and all the new opportunities this created, that
revival came to the Muslim world. The impetus for much of this revival came from spiritual
leaders like the Ayatollah Khomeini, who pointed out that it was Allah who had now given
Muslims a new chance of winning the world for Islam.

Oil, and the enormous wealth it created, gave Islam the
power to influence the whole of the Western world. Money was readily available, and, as
one of the most convenient agents of power, it played a crucial role in the change of the
fortunes of Islam.

[And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the
third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him
had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts
say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see
thou hurt not the oil and the wine.--Revelation 6:5-6]

____________________

The Wheel

Islam is today experiencing a revival in every aspect of
its life, whether political, cultural, or social. This is no accident. The revival which
started in the 1970s, in which Khomeini was partly instrumental, is connected with the
Islamic understanding of the "end of the age."

Islam dates its inception from 570 AD, so it is now at the
beginning of its fifteenth century.

For centuries, the ultimate hope of the Jews has been the
coming of the messianic kingdom, a kingdom which has to do with the appearance of the
Messiah-King and with both the revival and renewal of Israel. Christians should realize
that the Bible points in many places to God's millennial, thousand-year kingdom on earth
(Isa 2:1-4; Rev 20:4, etc.). Islam also thinks in terms of specific time-spans, but these
are in hundred-year rather than thousand-year cycles. Behind this way of
thinking lies the idea that the world, as far as time is concerned, goes through a kind of
cyclical motion in which time is constantly returning to its starting-point.

According to this idea, the course of the world in history
is not to be seen as one of forward movement. The idea of "progress" does not
receive much attention in the political and philosophical thinking of Islam. Instead, as
we shall see more fully, the course of world events is based on the idea of a wheel in
motion, an idea which was very real to Muslims of the Middle Ages. While less stressed
today, the concept is still a significant part of Islamic thought.

____________________

According to Islam, the path followed by mankind may be
compared to that of a wheel turning on its axle. During the movement of turning there is
always a point on the rim of the wheel which is at the top. This upper point may be
considered as being at the best and most favorable position in the wheel's cycle. As the
wheel goes on turning, the point which was on top now proceeds downward until it finally
reaches the lowest point in the cycle. When this happens the low point has been reached,
and this may be considered as representing the worst possible moment in time.

Until the recent Islamic revival, Islam tended to go along
with the forward movement of humanity, but such movement is not considered to represent
either progress or improvement but rather deterioration. For Islam there is only
one way to bring about improvement, and that is to go backward in time.

The further back the wheel goes the better things will
become because, it is argued, you will find yourself back at the top of the cycle all the
sooner. A parallel may be drawn with the face of a clock in which the big hand is not
allowed to go beyond the quarter-past mark.

So what is to be done when Islam suffers a military defeat
or a political or economic setback? What is to be done when even Muslim believers seem to
be losing their faith? Shall Islam go forward with the tide of history into an ever more
modern way of life? Or shall it go backwards into the past? Islam answers, "Go
back!" For in turning back to the past the high point in the cycle of the wheel will
be reached all the more quickly.

In Islam, the time-cycles last for a hundred years. It is
at the end of such a period that Islam finds itself at its lowest ebb, and it is at these
times that there is increased expectancy concerning a messiah...

Because there is still no messiah in Islam, the answer
must be to turn the wheel back so that its crucial point can once again be at the highest
point of the cycle. No time in history can surpass that of the prophet Muhammad himself,
and the message of Islam for the faithful today is this: "Let us return to the best
of the past, to the word of the prophet, to the word of Allah and to the Qur'an. Let us
turn back to the tradition, back to everything which is truly of Islam."

(Islam, Israel and the Last Days, Elishua Davidson)

The Future of Jews Lies in the Re-establishment of
Caliphate

Palestine Times, December Issue (1998)

A Jewish historian from Tel Aviv has called on Arabs and
Muslims to re-establish the Islamic caliphate "in order to bring about a genuine,
durable and just resolution of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians."

Professor Meyer Kaplan said in an interview with Palestine
Times that the future of Jews in Palestine would look doubtful and precarious if the
current state of Zionism remained unchanged, which he said necessitated the establishment
of an umbrella Islamic caliphate transcending geopolitical borders and covering Palestine.
He said that Jews would accept in principle Islamic sovereignty over Palestine
"provided that the caliphate rules according to the law of the Prophet." He
cited the "law of Medina" as the most appropriate law of the land in a
prospective Islamic State where "Jews, Muslims, Christians and others are considered
citizens of the Islamic State."

Kaplan lashed out at the current peace process, saying it
is "nothing" from the historical point of view, and that, historically speaking,
it is not worth the paper on which it is written. "Neither Jews nor Arabs are
satisfied with it, so each party will wait until the time is ripe to leap on the
other," he said.

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